


Broken Beads

by CharlotteDaBookworm



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Established Relationship, Fluff, Galahdian Culture (Final Fantasy XV), Grief/Mourning, Lazy Mornings, Loss, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Morning Cuddles, Pain, Watching A Loved One Die, Watching Someone Sleep, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-04 09:56:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17302481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharlotteDaBookworm/pseuds/CharlotteDaBookworm
Summary: Taking a deep breath, he reaches out, taking one of Regis' hands and carefully pouring out the two intricately carved beads of obsidian and fulgurite into his palm. "Beads like these." His lover freezes, staring at him with wide eyes, and Nyx smiles at him. The words come easily now. "I love you, Regis Lucis Caelum, will you marry me in the ways of my people?"-His heart stops.Because he knows that look. He's worn that look; the look of someone grimly determined to see something through even though they're certain that it will end up killing them.And that is how Regis is looking at him now.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own FFXV

Nyx wakes slowly.

 

It's rare that he gets the opportunity to and rarer still that he feels safe enough to do so.

 

But the duvet is heavy over his hips, the lines of a familiar warm body beside him, and there is a gentle hand running through his hair and Nyx is perfectly happy to just _drift_ in that point between sleep and wakefulness. Taking advantage of the lazy morning and the rare event of his lover being awake before him. He leans into the touch, snuggling closer to the warmth and wrapping an arm around a set of legs.

 

The hand pauses, making Nyx whine at the loss of the sensation and cuddle his partner closer in protest, before there's a soft laugh from above him and the petting begins again.

 

He sighs in contentment.

 

It could be a moment or an age later that he finally opens his eyes, blinking them sleepily and tilting his head slightly so that he can peer up at his lover without dislodging the hands in his hair. Regis is smiling down at him gently, a book - one that Nyx had purchased for him on his last birthday, an analysis of the forms of magic that were once common on the Isles of his birth - perched face-down beside them where his lover had obviously abandoned it when Nyx had woken, and there is so much love in his expression that for a second it takes Nyx's breath away.

 

"Hey," he breathes through a sleep rough throat, a slow smile forming on his face.

 

Regis laughs quietly, one of his hands moving to brush away the hair that had collected on his forehead. "Good morning, my dear," he says as Nyx reaches out blindly, grasping the hand above him with his own and gripping it.

 

Bringing the hand to his lips, Nyx presses a kiss to it. "Love you," he says softly, sincerely, with everything that he is, still with his head pillowed on his lover's thigh.

 

"And I, you." His lover said just as seriously, smiling down at him like Nyx was his entire world at that moment, and he _reaches_ into the armiger before he can second guess himself.

 

A silk bag appears in his hand and he strokes a thumb over it, shifting his other arm so that he has an elbow propped underneath him, holding himself up and looking his lover in the eye.

 

"Regis," he begins solemnly, the man in question frowning slightly at the sudden change in mood, and then all of the words that he'd so carefully thought out fall away, fading out of his reach like vapour in the breeze. Staring at the man that he loves so much, Nyx decides to throw caution to the wind. "Back home, we wear our lives in our hair. Our accomplishments, our failures, our families, our lovers. And there aren't any big ceremonies in Galahd, not really, not as you have here. Love is a private thing to us and our marriages aren't what Lucis would call 'official'; there's no paperwork and no rings and no priests. Just people who love each other very much and beads." Nyx cuts himself off because he's babbling but Regis is grinning at him through his confusion, so he counts that as a win.

 

Taking a deep breath, he reaches out, taking one of Regis' hands and carefully pouring out the two intricately carved beads of obsidian and fulgurite into his palm. "Beads like these." His lover freezes, staring at him with wide eyes, and Nyx smiles at him. The words come easily now. "I love you, Regis Lucis Caelum, will you marry me in the ways of my people?"

 

He waits then, patiently and with a soft smile on his face, as Regis considers. Lets his lover think it over, lets him work it through in his mind at his own pace. The answer wouldn't change anything, wouldn't affect the depth of his love for this man, this is just an expression of that love. One he hopes that Regis will except, but an expression all the same.

 

And then Regis' fist tightens gently over the beads and his face lights up with joy, a look that he tries so hard to bring out in his lover but can rarely manage. "Yes," he breathes, and Nyx is practically bubbling over with happiness.

 

"Yes?" He asks, just to be sure, holding himself from tackling him by a thread.

 

"Yes," Regis says, grinning at him, "yes, I will marry you, Nyx Ulric." He holds out the beads, questioning.

 

Nyx takes one of them carefully, braiding it gently into Regis' hair at his ear; and the braid will have to come out before they can leave the room because Regis was King, Nyx has a braided leather cord specifically so that the man could keep the bead on him always despite not being able to wear it openly, but the sight of the marriage braid in his hair takes Nyx's breath away. His hands shake as he takes the second bead, showing Regis how to braid it properly into his own hair and it's a little sloppy, obviously made by an inexperienced hand, as Regis pulls away but Nyx can't bring himself to correct it.

 

Then he tackles them both to the bed, laughing giddily as he kisses his _husband_.

 

 

* * *

 

Regis stumbles to a stop.

 

He's leaning heavily on his good leg and Nyx has the absent thought that he's going to have to talk him into being taken care of later before he catches sight of the look on his face.

 

His heart stops.

 

Because he knows that look. He's _worn_ that look; the look of someone grimly determined to see something through even though they're certain that it will end up killing them.

 

And that is how Regis is looking at him now.

 

Nyx meets his lover's eyes, hoping desperately that he's wrong, but all he sees is love and resolve in that familiar gaze. _Please_ , he begs silently as his grip tightens on whatever it was that Regis had given to him on that lift, clutching desperately to the only thing from his husband that he can easily reach. _Please don't do this. We can find another way, there has to be another way. Please don't leave me_.

 

A sad smile on his bloodstained face, Regis just shakes his head slightly and Nyx can hear the unspoken _I'm sorry_.

 

The barrier that goes up doesn't surprise him, knowing his husband as he does, even if it does the princess. Regis had made up his mind before they'd entered this room, and nothing would change it now. Not even him. He grabs her, holding her back, but he keeps his gaze on his husband, refusing to look away even for a second.

 

He knows, even without thinking about it, that he cannot warp across to his lover's side. That the barrier will not let him.

 

That knowledge burns, deep in his soul.

 

And then Regis is speaking to Princess Lunafreya but Nyx doesn't process the words, just watches; taking in as much of Regis, even injured as he is, as he can and committing it all to memory.

 

He glances down at his hands, looking at what Regis had given him, and feels his heart warm despite the situation at the sight of the charm; lightning across a night sky on one side and the royal emblem on the other, done in silver and black.

 

It's _them_ and Nyx clutches it tighter.

 

One hand reaches up to brush against his braids, fingers finding the newest one easily and running across the promises of love and devotion engraved into the surface. On the other side of the barrier - the barrier that _feels_ so much like his husband that it almost hurts - Regis reaches to do the same with the braided cord around his neck.

 

Nyx reaches out, releasing the princess so that he can press a hand against the barrier, wanting nothing more than to touch his husband.

 

The joy of the morning seemed so far away, now.

 

And then Glauca is there and Regis is turning away and he _knows_ that he should leave, that his duty came first - that it always came first, even when his husband was walking to certain, violent death - but he cannot bring himself to move away.

 

Regis tosses his cane aside, relying on his magic where his body was failing him, and normally Nyx would be overjoyed to watch his husband fight but now he could feel nothing but dread.

 

Because his husband is injured and Glauca refused to stay down and Nyx can't _help_. Regis is alone in this and that thought makes him clutch tighter at the charm that had been pressed into his hands.

 

Glauca carries on advancing, despite the lightning, despite everything that the king throws at him, and then something happens, his husband sees something that makes him hesitate, makes him shake his head in disbelief in the middle of a battle, and there's something like betrayal in his features as steel descends.

 

 " _Regis!"_ Nyx screams in rage and grief, unable to take his eyes off of his husband - his _husband_ -

impaled on that sword.

 

There's a clatter, the familiar sound of a bead hitting the floor, and he realises that the blade had cut the cord around Regis' neck. The bead - the bead that he had given to Regis mere hours before, that symbolised _them_ \- rolls to a stop at the foot of the barrier, stained by his husband's blood, and Nyx stares at it in horror.

 

He's shaking.

 

He can't breathe.

 

 _No, not Regis, please_ , he begs anyone that will listen, and he can't bring himself to look away even though it _hurts_ ; even though he will never be able to forget this sight.

 

Glauca yells, forcing the blade deeper, and Nyx chokes on his breath alongside Regis. "Go," he gasps out weakly and Nyx knows it's directed at him. He knows that he has to leave, otherwise this will have all been in vain, but he's too focused on his lover's face - on the agony and the blood and the _love_ , so much love directed at him, that is there.

 

 _I love you_ , Regis mouths, no longer having the breath to speak, and his eyes _burn._

 

Then his face relaxes, pain easing, and the warmth in his chest that Nyx has long connected to Regis fades away and he _knows_.

 

The blade is pulled out and tears are sliding down Nyx's face and his husband is _dead_ and it hurts, so much. But then Glauca shoves Regis aside - like he was _nothing_ \- and suddenly he wasn't shaking with grief but with **_rage_**.

 

Nyx pulls his kukri, meaning to avenge his husband's death even at the cost of his own life, only for the princess to step in front of him.

 

"No. We must get away from here," she says, and Nyx doesn't _care_ , his husband was dead on the floor, tossed aside like rubbish, and his murderer was standing right there, but then she continues. "It is what your king wanted."

 

Those words hit him like a blow to the sternum because they're _true_. Regis had wanted him to go, had wanted him to run, and he snarls but he has never disregarded an order from his king.

 

He turns, and he leaves his heart behind, on the floor of that Citadel room, slaughtered by General Glauca.


	2. Ring of the Lucii

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This will kill him, he knows, and Nyx cannot bring himself to care. Not when his husband lies dead, slaughtered by a man that they had trusted. Not when Regis was gone, and he had taken Nyx's heart with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The discord is full of enablers, so have the ring scene for this au

* * *

 

He glances at Glauca - at _Drautos_ , and Nyx had _respected him_ , had liked him, and he knows that Regis had considered the man a friend, and that betrayal burns like fire in his veins - and at the blade falling towards them and he will not die at the hands of his husband’s murderer.

 

The Ring pulses with power, a promise of protection at horrible cost, and he knows in an instant what Lunafreya has planned. He can't let that happen. Regis had asked that he protect her, and Nyx will not fail his King. Not today. Not after everything that had happened.

 

And if anyone is to pay the cost of using the ring, then it will be him.

 

Decided, Nyx doesn't hesitate before shoving the ring onto his finger.

 

This will kill him, he knows, and Nyx cannot bring himself to care. Not when his husband lies dead, slaughtered by a man that they had _trusted_. Not when Regis was gone, and he had taken Nyx's heart with him.

 

If he dies fulfilling his husband’s last request, then Nyx will die content.

 

"Show yourselves, Kings of Lucis," he demands as time slows to a crawl.

 

He blinks as the world fades away, darkening and going out of focus as pillars of light appear, one by one, all around him. One last pillar springs into being directly in front of where Nyx kneels on the cold ground, the light condensing into a man that he would recognise anywhere; despite the armour that covered his body.

 

"Regis," he breathes, a hand reaching out towards the figure instinctively. His fingers meet air, passing harmlessly through the shade of his husband, and his heart breaks a little more.

 

It _hurts_ : to be so near his husband and yet be unable to touch; to not feel the warmth of his presence or the tang of his magic in the air; Nyx's eyes burn with bitter tears that he shoves aside by sheer force of will. He can't afford to break down, not right now.

 

"Nyx," Regis says and, while his voice is steady, it echoes oddly through the helm and he can't even draw comfort from the familiar sound. "My love, what are you doing?"

 

_I wanted to see you_ , he doesn't say, because it's true, he had, it felt like it had been years since he had seen his husband instead of the hours it was actually, but that isn't the main reason that he'd done this.

 

"Saving them," he says instead, gesturing first to the princess and then to Libs, who had taken one look at the new braid in his hair and blanched white when they had seen each other. "Doing as my king asked of me," he adds, more quietly, because the knowledge of that is practically the only thing keeping him going now.

 

Regis flinches slightly and Nyx regrets the fact that he has hurt him. "I would never have asked you this." _Not to bear the ring, not when it would mean your death_ , goes unspoken but he hears it.

 

Nyx smiles at him. "I know." _But I'm dying anyway. And I would ask it of myself._ The pain in his chest flares white-hot as he shifts to his feet, the bullet wound a reminder of his ever-impending demise.

 

"The youngest amongst us has deemed you worthy," one of the other Lucii - they all look the same like this, clad in armour and glowing brightly enough that details are faded, and Nyx has no idea which was which - says, interrupting them, and their voice seems to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once. "And so, we will grant you our boon, but our power does not come without cost."

 

A gesture from one of the figures has the princess and Libs sharpening into focus. "A price must be paid." Another demands. "A life. His, or hers." His smile drops.

 

"No," Nyx says, shaking his head. "I will not sacrifice another for mere power."

 

The figure to the left of him tilted their head. "You would forsake your duty to your king?" They ask, seemingly curious if not for the way that the power in the air turned oppressive.

 

"My life is worth no more than theirs. If that means that I fail in my duties, then so be it. My king will understand." And Regis will, Nyx knows that without even looking at him.

 

"Then it shall be your life taken as toll."

 

He smiles once more, small and broken. "The heart of me has died already." He does not fear his own death. Not now, not ever. "My life, for the power to save theirs." He agrees and he can feel it as the deal takes hold, magic surging through his body like acid, burning through his veins.

 

Tears of pain drip down his face as the world starts to fade back into existence.

 

"Nyx," his husband says, stepping closer to him even as the other Lucii fade back into the ether, and it's desperate and despairing and understanding and loving all at once.

 

Casting Regis one last, lingering, look, Nyx grins as he burns from within. "I love you," he whispers to his husband of less than a day, to the man who he loved more than anything, to the king already dead. "With everything that I am."

 

And then he's gone and time rushes back and Glauca is _there_ and Nyx reacts. But even as he tosses Glauca aside, there is only one thought on his mind.

 

_I will see you in the beyond love_.

 

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> I was in an angsty mood and ended up in the Regis/Nyx tag and there are only 5 fics there and that is an outrage so this is the result. Sorry, not sorry. Thanks for reading, tell me what you think.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Not Today](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17304899) by [Jahaliel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jahaliel/pseuds/Jahaliel)




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